Now

This page is inspired by Derek Sivers' Now project.

25th June 2024

I'm spending an obscene amount of time with my Pocket Operator KO (PO-33). Might start sharing some creations but very well aware that early experiments with a new creative tool are often terrible so I may leave it a while.
- I'm obsessed with this thing, to the point where I want to buy the whole collection of Pocket Operators. The Sub and Synth versions are next on my hit list.

Reading A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine, which is perhaps the clearest pointer in Stoic philosophy that I've come across. Ryan Holiday does a great job of making Stoicism accessible, but I feel that Irvine manages to stay closer to the source materials and origins without letting some of the harder to read bits creeping in.

We have acquired customer number 1 for our new company. It feels surreal with that happening so soon in the new journey. It'll be as much of a test for our professional services company, Dawson Andrews, in regards to how it fares with a new product company fighting for our time and attention at the same time.

A company-wide steps challenge is keeping my running on track. I think I topped out around 125km last month, I'm set to pass that over the next couple of days before I break for two weeks for a family holiday where I hope to binge eat quite heavily, then struggle to get back into form on return.
I have started an impromptu collection of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. What started as a hobby in rebuilding my old original Xbox collection has turned into a gotta-catch-em-all thing with any THPS game going. P.S: If anyone has a copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x on Xbox, let me know :)

21st May 2024

I'm currently reading First Things First by Stephen R. Covey after devouring The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I always feel the need to give two disclaimers about 7 Habits: #1 it's almost a cliché-level book in that I assume everyone has read it cover to cover but me, and #2 if you haven't, yet know about it, it's not the type of book you think it is. The title does it a massive disservice. I can only describe it as an operating manual for life. A truly paradigm-shifting book that has benefitted me more outside the world of work. First Things First is a deeper dive into one of the habits that I'm currently living out.
Sigh, I probably shouldn't admit this as a United season ticket holder, but I'm reading Pep Confidential: the Inside Story of Pep Guardiola's First Season at Bayern Munich by Marti Perarnau. I am reluctantly facinated about how Pep Guardiola manages to define a philosophy that seems to trancend his teams and when key people are moved in and out of positions and games, the philosophy doesn't flinch. I want to figure out how he does that.

I think I'm outgrowing Koala Sampler, but I'm not quite at the stage to move up to a Roland SP404-MK II, so in the meantime I'm going to play around with some of Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators and get creative with my hands away from screens.
- An increase in screen time has been an unfortunate side effect of using Koala Sampler which has made pursuing digital minimalism tricky.

I'm starting a new company with my fellow directors at Dawson Andrews, Andrew Fulton and Shaun Murphy, and I'm navigating that tricky crossroads of trying to fire myself from DA to give the new company a chance of working rather than trying to start it as a side-project, which just won't work. If 7 years of building Dawson Andrews has taught us anything, it's that these things need 100% focus.

I'm back on the running wagon, which is nice. I'm turning 40 next year and starting to think any form of fitness was behind me, but I'm on track for over 100km in May (should finish around 125km) which will eclipse anything I managed during lockdown (my previous big running spree).
- Last time I reached 100km in a month was October 2021 and I bust both knees and injured my right foot in the process, all for a stupid badge on Nike Run Club. This time, I'm at 74.4km, completely pain-free somehow.